


An Arrow's Affections

by seasaltmemories



Category: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Clothed Sex, Drunk Sex, Emotional Constipation, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Insomnia, Late Night Conversations, Mildly Dubious Consent, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28366020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasaltmemories/pseuds/seasaltmemories
Summary: For all his callousness, he had never wanted to be the one to shoot her down.  In which Innes has to choose between his desire and pride.
Relationships: Heanius | Innes/Vanessa
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5
Collections: Nagamas Gifts





	An Arrow's Affections

**Author's Note:**

> On the topic of consent, while both participants are willing, they had both been previously drinking. Since I know that makes some people uncomfortable I wanted to be fully transparent and warn ahead of time. With that out of the way, I hope those still interested enjoy!

Out of all his peers, Innes always felt like he was the only one who understood what it meant to be the royal heir. Ephraim was the type to put off responsibility, more interested in war games and recreation than strategy and tactics. Meanwhile Tana and Eirika were the spoiled sweet secondborns. Even if the latter was a bit more mature, neither were truly expected to carry the weight of the future until there was no other choice. Out of everyone, Lyon had seemed the most aware of his duties, but considering his fate, Innes didn’t like to draw too many parallels between them.

At night, when he couldn’t sleep, caught up in the memory of death and decay, he told himself that what separated the two of them was the fact that Lyon only chose Grado’s Sacred Stone out of fear and a lack of options. At six, Innes chose a bow over a pegasus because he didn’t want to depend on any power but his own.

Some might say that it was ironic that the greatest dangers his troops might face would be him. He knew just where to aim to make a pegasus’ wings fold up and crumple. They were remarkably predictable creatures; no matter if Frelian troops or the enemy’s, they fell the same way every time. When he found himself wandering the halls at night, he wondered what it was like to turn your back to the man who could ruin you so thoroughly.

But then again, a king could be just as hazardous to subjects. Once more Grado turned out to be a stellar example of that. His duty was to wield his power responsibly, to keep a respectable and professional distance in order that they may trust the crown, not the man who wore it.

Innes noticed her from early on. Vanessa was a talented and graceful rider, rising through the ranks quickly. Still at that point he had started to take an interest in building his intelligence network. Even from a distant he could tell that she would make a poor candidate--too direct, too honest. They lived their opposite lives in the same castle for years, never crossing paths until the war left them with little choice.

When things looked their most dire at Carcino, she had been the first of Eirika’s forces to reach them. And when he saw her flying without any backup, he was so, so certain that she wouldn’t make it. Every time he blinked he saw those familiar crumpled wings.

“Prince Innes!” Vanessa dived low, her right arm quickly circling him. The physical weight of her touch was like a shock to his system. It was only instinct that pushed him to hook his bow on his back and jump.

The rest of him only caught up once he found himself seated behind her, his chest pressed up against her back.

“We need to go back.” He sat up straight, creating distance between them. “I still have men back there.”

“I was ordered to get you to safety first, your Highness.”

“And I’m ordering you to turn around.” Innes shot back. “It’s my job to protect them; I won’t abandon my duty.”

Vanessa was silent for a while. As he watched her ponytail flip back and forth, Innes wondered if he was asking too much of her--if he was just setting themselves both up for death and destruction.

Then without warning, they dove near straight down. The flames of an enemy fireball just barely missed singeing his hair off.

“If you want to stay on the front lines, then I hope you can shoot and ride at the same time.” Vanessa pulled out her lance. “I, myself, can’t ignore my duty to Princess Eirika, but you have my loyalty.”

Innes drew his bow and notched an arrow. “Trust me, I can protect you as well without breaking a sweat.”

Together they lived to survive another day and then went back to their separate lives. However it seemed their paths ran parallel to each other now. She seemed to always frequent the corner of his eye--whether it was the swing of her lance or the flash of her leg. He knew it was dangerous to get too close, but after having felt the strength of her arms, the muscle of her back, she seemed more solid than just any soldier. Yet when he told her this, she blushed and stammered like a bashful courtier’s daughter. For all her competency, she was someone who could return to a life of peace.

The night they returned from Darkling Woods they brought with them a strange combination of triumph and grief. While the Renais twins went to mourn their lost friends in privacy, L’Arachel did her best to raise the rest of their troops spirits with drink and dancing. And maybe the nightmares that followed were a punishment for his cruelty, but Innes chose to be with the living that night rather than mourn the dead. Even if he wasn’t the most festive of folks he sat by the fire and drank. He drank until he could remember he was alive.

“Your Highness!” He looked up to find Vanessa out of her armor and wearing a smile as bright as the blaze. Behind her in the distance, Father Moulder and one of the mages were arguing over something. “We were just about to start a game of cards, would you like to join us?”

“I have no interest in cards.” A more sober version of his would have tried to keep his gaze from lingering too much on her cleavage, but the fire in his veins reminded him that for all his dignity he was nothing more than a man at the end of the day. “Sit with me. I said I would like to get to know you better, and now is a good of time as any.”

Vanessa glanced back towards her friends, but with their animated gestures it looked like whatever discussion they were having would take a while to finish. She took a deep breath and then joined him, keeping her own respectable and professional distance. “I’ll stay until they need me. What would you like to talk about?”

“Anything.” Innes took another swig. “As long as it isn’t about this cursed war.”

Vanessa spoke in a steady, measured tone. While he did his best to pay attention, what he remembered the most from that night was the way her words seemed to slowly weave a warm blanket around him. Like a fool, he found himself obsessing over the strangest of things--the way she tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear, the arch of her leg as she crossed it over her other. While she drank as well, what made her flush the most was when their fingers happened to graze on another, and suddenly he was looking for every opportunity to see that pretty pink again and again.

It happen slowly at first. Vanessa committed something about the hour and started to get up. On instinct he reached out to grab her wrist. What that instinct was, he couldn’t say. There were no more arrows to fear, yet he could shake the sixth sense warning of danger on the horizon.

“Stay with me a bit longer,” Innes looked away and wet his lips. “Please.”

Then everything seemed to happen at once. In his tent, Vanessa bit and scraped the curve of his neck as he fumbled with his trousers. When she nipped a particular sensitive spot, he decided the effort wasn’t worth it and simply undid them enough to free his arousal. He gripped her by the buttocks, and flipped her over, so that he was straddling her.

“Come with me...” His hands roamed her, greedy for every part of her body. The juxtaposition of soft flesh and corded muscle was so overwhelming he had to gasp for air. “Come back with me to...” It was hard to remember what he was trying to say when she reach down low and grasped him. Her touch was tortuously light, and he found himself thrusting into her hand to feel any sort of pressure.

Vanessa kissed him, and it was only his competitive streak that kept him from letting her devour him completely.

As he thumbed her breast with one hand, the other one snuck down between her thighs and teased her there. The sounds she made went straight to his groin. Finding her suitably wet, he wasted no time in mounting her.

Innes shuddered at the warmth. He wanted to chase this sensation as far as he could, but finally remembering his manners, he studied Vanessa’s face, waiting to see if she was ready.

Slowly her eyes fluttered open, catching his gaze with a piercing intensity. “Your High--”

He cut off her words with his kiss. “I want to hear you say my name without all those titles for once.”

“Innes,” She moaned, and if he was less arrogant man he might have come apart right then and there. But no, his appetite wouldn’t be sated just yet. Vanessa dug her nails into the shoulder once he began to move. Even through the cloth of his coat, her grip was vice-like. He pulled her chest close to his, unwilling to let her go.

“Innes, what--” Her words were difficult to make out over the drumming of his heart, but he slowed down, just enough to let her speak.

“Innes, what were you trying to say?” Despite being inside of her currently, her request almost felt scandalous. Instead of answering, he ground his hips against hers as he entered again, desperate to go ahead and finish this out. But as he found himself nearing his climax, his tongue started to rebel against him.

“Come back with me to Frelia Castle.” As he rode her to orgasm, a languid heat overwhelmed his senses. For what felt like the first time in a long time, he breathed.

As the pleasure washed away, he remembered Vanessa below him, still unsatisfied.

“Sorry,” He panted and withdrew from her. “Do I need to do more?”

“It’s fine, I want to know though--” She stopped mid-sentence as he collapsed on his side. “--are you alright Innes?”

“Just tired,” The day’s events was only starting to weight on him now. As he tried to catch his breath he wondered if maybe tonight he might actually be able to get some sleep. “Continue.”

“Your Highness, did you just propose to me?”

All his muddled thoughts crystallized into sharp focus at the question. Carefully, he did his best to choose his words.

“You’re a valuable soldier. I want your efforts to go rewarded.” It was stupid to talk about the war when she was in his bed, but for all his callousness, Innes had never wanted to be the one to shoot her down.

“So--” Vanessa arched her hands together. “--is this one of my rewards?” There was a slight hesitance to her movements, but there was also a grace that reminded him that she had her own pride as well.

“My selfishness knows no limits. My duty knows them all too well.” Even in a world without the Demon King, he couldn’t imagine feeling at ease enough to choose a queen for Frelia out of love. “You’ll be neither favored or punished for catering to my whims.”

“Pardon me your Highness,” She had the same focused look in her eye from that time she snatched him up without warning. “But I won’t restructure my life for a whim.”

“I see.” He wanted to do this with poise, but as his voice cracked around the last syllable, he couldn’t help but focus on the surrounding tarp. He would not break here. It didn’t matter how much fear gnawed away at his heart, he told himself a long ago that he would never be made a coward.

And yet for once his pride couldn’t soothe the striking hollowness ringing through his bones.

He didn’t know what he expected--for Vanessa to roll over and ignore him, or better yet get up and search for a man that might actually satisfy her--but it wasn’t for that feather-light touch to graze his knuckles.

“I’m not expecting a ring and wedding gown. Noble life has never been something I’ve desired.” She spoke as if explaining the answer to a simple puzzle. “I’ve loved you for a long time and will continue to love you as long as you remain my liege. However, I refuse to be made a fool for my love.”

Even in such plain terms, it was hard to believe her confession. Could he describe his own affections as love? Logic dictated that whatever he felt was too greedy, too consuming for such a sentimental notion. Meanwhile the cold, stubborn rock he called a heart cried that he rather die than try and make it through this night alone.

“I won’t act like my desires are more important than any other person’s. That’d be hypocritical.”

Vanessa frowned, and no matter how impossible the situation, he could almost see the glimmer of her lance reflect in her eye. “You mock me with your simplicity. A woman needs more than wit to survive on.”

With a sudden burst of passion, Innes pulled her so that she was close to his chest.

“I want you.” His tongue curled around the words in almost a growl. If he was an honest man, then he’d admit it was need, but even in the privacy of his own quarters, it seemed too risky to name such a weakness. If he was a better heir, he would have never developed this weakness in the first place.

Yet for all his failings, this time, he made sure he didn’t look away.

“I will not grovel for such a base urge, but I promise you that as long as you stay by side I will protect you with my last breath.” Just as quickly as it grew, his previous spike of energy withered to dust. In the end it was him who crumpled up and fell-- his head landing against her shoulder with a quiet sigh. “So please,” He breathed. “Stay with me for just a while longer.”

The two of them slowly began to collapse together, until their limbs were all but a tangled mess and Innes’ head was pillowed against her breasts. He could feel sleep coming from him any second now, but before it took him, he heard her final answer.

“Then I shall come.” Vanessa smoothed his hair down. “Nothing will remove me from my post.”

A gentle calm wave he had rarely ever felt in his life all but drowned him.

That night, Innes’ slumber was dreamless.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Nagamas, yzderia! I was very interested in the fact that while their paired ending mentions a child, it doesn't specify if they marry or not. Since I always enjoy romantic pairings that end in some ways besides the traditional married with 2.5 kids and picket fence way, I had a lot of fun trying to map out what their Happily Ever After may be.
> 
> Hope you have a wonderful rest of 2020!


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